Sunday, July 8, 2012

Your New Bunker Setup

Golf Digest  August 2012  p.32

I had great hopes for this most recent instructional article from Sean Foley.  The article opens with a reasonable proposition: " By now I'm sure you know the key to hitting greenside bunker shots is making sand-first contact and skimming your wedge under the ball."  While Sean's "key" overlooks the importance of achieving the correct distance and direction, I proceeded with interest to learn about contact and skimming.
From there we are taken on a journey into Foley-Land where instruction defies reason and clarity.  Open stance--check.  Ball off left heel--check.  Belt buckle closer to target than sternum--huh?  So the sternum can face the right foot or left as long as my belt buckle is closer to the target?  The player then needs to feel pressure in the left thigh?  Pressure results from pressing.  Perhaps what Sean means is to feel tension from that muscle supporting our weight since we are leaning forward.
So the recipe for contact and skimming is: stance, ball position, sternum/belt buckle position, and left thigh tension.  Really?  Is there a golfer anywhere on the planet who could satisfy these four conditions and not hit it fat or blade it into the next county?

When it comes to his Golf Digest instructional articles, Sean is batting a thousand.  Not one of them stand up to a careful reading.  And unless he his giving Golf Digest something different than he is giving Tiger Woods, I continue to be suspicious as to whether he is Tiger's solution or problem. 




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